Having never handled one, educate me on this, do you have to use a tool or some type of gizmo to get it off to swap them out?

Sure, within the backstrap is a large pin that runs up the back strap that twists to lock and unlock. Its not the easiest thing to unlock it either as its a tight fit. Once you rotate the base of the pin it pulls out. Then you can pull the backstrap off. The backstraps are very snug, nothing loose feeling. They come with the medium size installed and the majority of people leave it that way. If you are satisfied with the grip of the Glock 17 then you would likly end up in the Medium camp. I prefer the small.

Just returned from the annual SWAT Round-Up in Orlando for the day. Glock was setup and had Dave Sevigny, Jesse Abbate, and Randi Rogers showing off the new 4th generation Glock. Asked Jesse if I could take a photo...she went and asked and was told NO!

The frame has a newer RTF pattern...not as many spikes/sharp as the current RTF. You get two additional back-straps with the pistol...without any back-straps installed you get what Jesse was calling the SF frame. Clip on the Medium back-strap and you have your standard tried and true Glock frame. Install the Large and you get the frame of the G20/G21 pistols. I was not very impressed with how the straps attach...looks like they would pop off really easy, but who knows.

Also new is a reversible magazine catch/release. Setup for right hand shooters you can use all the old magazines. Lefties will only be able to use new mags that will have double cut outs for the catch. I thought the new mag release looked hideous. Very large.

New as well is a double spring recoil guide rod assemble. Looks like a stretched out version of the G26/G27 recoil assemblies. Jesse claimed it reduces recoil.

Tomorrow they are going to let folks shoot them...unfortunately I will not be there.

Glock has been marketing the Gen 4 to police for a while, this is not the first time out in the wild. The Florida Highway Patrol has been testing the Gen 4 Glock 37 for months, and just signed on to go with them.

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I saw a rumor on another forum that with the 4th gen., they were going to do away with needing to pull the trigger to field strip it. I'm assuming this is bogus since it would require a major redesign. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

Just a pressure fit. I would have thought they would have utilized the trigger housing pin to retain it. I'm hoping what we saw at SWAT wasn't a production model and the final product willl have a more secure method of retaining the back-straps!?!?

Hmmm, rather hoping it will have a more secure method too.
How would you estimate the grip size reduction to current Glocks ? Noticeable by look only or would you need to hold one to tell a difference ?

From the SF grip with no additional back-strap installed to the medium standard Glock back-strap installed, in my hands felt almost negligible. If you had very small hands I suppose it would make a difference. I didn't even bother with the large back-strap.

Let's all get hot and bothered and pissed off at Glock because of an UNCOMFIRMED story posted on THE INTERNET by somebody. Furthermore, we should ALL assume that this prototype/pre-release model that this guy is describing WILL be the final production model and that no further changes will be made! Yeah! That sounds logical!

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I mean Jesus Christ guys...

I handled and shot the smae Fourth Gen pistol that eringobragh did

Let me first say that eringobragh has no reason to lie and I'll tell ya that I know him and know he is as big a Glock Fag . . . ok, Glock FAN as there is out there. He isn't trying to run Glock down.

He is correct about almost all of his impressions

Quote:

Originally Posted by eringobragh

Just a pressure fit. I would have thought they would have utilized the trigger housing pin to retain it. I'm hoping what we saw at SWAT wasn't a production model and the final product willl have a more secure method of retaining the back-straps!?!?

He is wrong about this. More in a bit

The Fourth Gen Glocks will be introduced in a matter of weeks to the public . . . at SHOT Show.

As to this being a Proto and not being a final production pistol, you could be right, but not from what the Reps were saysing and not from what I saw.

This was not a Rapid Prototyped mock up. This was a working, shooting, handling pistol and it is not the only one. I shot it and watched while a line of folks handled/shot it.

Could things change? Sure, but I'd be very surprised if it is changed in the next five weeks.

In my opinion, I hope they change a few things based on feedback and "fix" it before it goes into full production, but based on Glocks history, I doubt it. It looks set in stone to me.

There are four main changes with the 4th gen and one minor one I saw, but don't know what it is for.

1) The magazine release. As has been described, it is now a reversible release. I asked about the previous "ambi" release and the change to all the magazines over the last couple of years and was told that the Ambi release has been shown to have been a mistake and is now a dead issue.

The "pad" of the new reversible release is larger in surface area.

The magazines for the new "Rev Release" has cuts on both sides of the magazine and are mirror images of each other. You can use all the old magazines if you keep the release on the left side of the pistol, but if you reverse it, you need the as yet to be released double release cut magazines. The new pistols will of course have the double cut magazines. No word if all new magazines will have the cuts, but based on Glocks history, I wold say with confidence that I expect that.

2) The 4th generation pistols will have a double spring recoil assembly, as described by eringobragh, it is a longer version of the G26/G27 spring.

It will not be designed to retrofit the older generations of pistols. The ring in the front of the slide is a larger diameter to accommodate the new assembly.

I've actually been asking for this for years. The double spring system works amazingly well and in actually shooting the 4th Gen G22 they had on hand, I can tell you that is sucks up a lot of the "bite" of the .40S&W transferred to the shooter via the grip. It felt kinda like shooting "+P" in a G17, maybe a little snapper, but not much.

If there is a 4th Generation G18C . . . look the hell out :D

3) The RTF texture on the 4th Gen pistol I examined is like a 1/2 texture RTF. As I like to carry IWB, I don't think this is really for me.

4) The main change of the 4th Gen is the interchangeable back straps.

As this is a Glock Forum, it should be a pretty easy thing for folks to wrap their head around. All 4th gen will be "SF". Meaning that the distance between the face of the trigger and the back strap is shorter. They do this by "under cutting" the back strap.

There will be two additional "add-a-straps" for the smaller framed pistols. I did not ask about the larger frames, but I ASSUME there will be one.

If you carry the pistol with no add-on, you have an "SF", small grip.

Add the smaller one, you have the traditional G17/G22/ect feel. Add the larger and you make you 9mm/40/357 feel like a G21

Where eringobragh got it wrong is that it's not just a whimpy snap on addition. The pistol will come with the two additional back straps and a longer back pin. To add a backstrap, you push out the rear pin, add the strap, which locks at the bottom and add the longer pin to hold the strap in place.

Personally, as an "SF", I didn't feel any difference (and I have smaller hands. They are very "Manly", just smaller then average :D), but you could feel a change adding the smaller add-a-strap. Not a big change and not worth the change, in my humble opion

The 4th Gen pistol looks pretty much identical to the 3rd Gen. One give-a-way is that the rear pin holes in the frame are larger and countersunk half moons.

The small change is on the inside. Pulling the slide off there is an as yet unexplained change in the frame. At the rear, on the left there is a hole in the frame. It's vertical and I doubt it's for "weight savings". Just so we know I know what a Glock frame looks like, I've been a Glock Armorer since the late 80's, have been through the "Advanced Armorer" and work on Glocks pretty much daily

the 4th Generation, I was told, is an OPTION. They will continue to offer the 3rd Gen pistols and you can have the 4th Gen if you like. Probably the best feature so far

In five or six weeks you'll be able to get all this directly from Glock and the Gun Press. Until then, feel free to consider it Internet Rumor. Don't care

Where eringobragh got it wrong is that it's not just a whimpy snap on addition. The pistol will come with the two additional back straps and a longer back pin. To add a backstrap, you push out the rear pin, add the strap, which locks at the bottom and add the longer pin to hold the strap in place.

Ah So! Jesse must have left the pin out for ease of demonstration! That makes more sense now. The booth was kinda swamped when I was there...she may have mentioned the pin and I did not hear her.

Thanks for dropping in...I was hoping you or Mr. Ross would show up here!

P.S. Yes your freakishly small hands are manly! Need a pic of you with a Wendy's Stack Attack burger!

I was at a shop on Monday. The salesman confirmed that these (4th gen with straps) are coming out because he saw them on his order page on his distributors website. He told me that they were about $30 more than the standard Glocks.